In November we embarked on a four day tour of Michigan wineries which proved to be eye opening. If wine fans have one thing in common (other than wine), they love to turn their friends on to different wines and wineries. So we say, checking out Michigan wine is well worth the time. We travelled up the western border of the state which is, of course, the east coast of Lake Michigan. This series begins with a guy whose passion for the grape glows from his face as he speaks. Wally Maurer is the Owner and Winemaker of Domaine Berrien Cellars in Berrien Springs, Michigan. We caught up with Wally at the winery as he finished up with the last of the grapes from harvest. The thing is, Wally is the kind of winemaker you want wine lovers to meet. It’s in his blood. And he’ll tell you why.

If you want to learn about Merlot, Chris Carpenter is the guy to talk to. Chris makes wine in Napa Valley for Lokoya as well as Mt. Brave, Cardinale and La Jota as well as a project in Australia, and he knows great Merlot. Well, he know great wine in general. We had a fantastic interview with Chris a few weeks ago and while we talked about his history, Merlot was the name of the game. This is a grape people should get to know. All over again. Believe me, Chris will tell you…

From our perspective, the smaller the winery the more interesting the wine. Barlow Vineyards is in Calistoga and Zach Smith is the Vineyard Manager as well as National Sales Manager. Barlow makes the kind of wines that they like to drink. And large production is not what they do. They focus on the wine, not huge production. Zach was in town and visited the Life Between the Vines studio a few weeks ago while doing a tasting tour and we were able to sit down with him to chat. A wine family can extend generations, so it is here you get to listen to the future.

For the past several years we have had a tradition of rebroadcasting the previous year’s Premiere Napa Valley, and this year is no exception. PNV is a great event where we get to catch up with old friends, lots of winemakers and make new friends. Once again we will be producing a podcast from this years Premiere which will go online the week after the event. For now, relive the sounds and fun of Premiere Napa Valley 2017.

With the purchase of Sonoma’s Buena Vista Winery several years ago, Jean-Charles Boisset has brought back a major jewel in the county’s winery crown. Brian Maloney is the Winemaker for Buena Vista and has been witness to the comeback of this property. While the Sonoma fires came dangerously close to the winery, Buena Vista survived and continues to grow. Now the industry looks for tourism to return to some of the most beautiful vineyards in the world. We met with Brian in November in the cozy confines of the historic Buena Vista Champaign cellar.